Feely will not hand over pictures of what the hotel will look like. After all, there are security issues to be considered in unveiling the 23-story hotel - the first private investment in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003 and the tallest building in Baghdad.

Plenty of foreign businesses promised investment in the months after the spring of 2003. But as the threat of violence increased, the reality of postwar Iraq sunk in.

After 2 years of discussion, anticipation and prospecting, however, Feely has something to talk about.

The government is donating the land but providing no funds. The US$85 million (HK$663 million) hotel is being financed by an Iraqi businessman whose identity is being kept secret for security reasons. It will take two years to build - in the heart of the fortified Green Zone amid concrete barriers, foreign troops and a transitional government.

That is probably why news of the hotel does not sit too well with the Iraqi public. Most ordinary folk cannot get inside the Green Zone and so will not set foot inside the marble lobby anytime soon. "This means it will serve only the foreign population and the government officials," said Ayad Ali Hussein, the owner of the city's Gulf Hotel.

Saheb Abdul Sattar, 41, owner of an auto-parts store, is upset that the government is donating land and allowing the project, even if it is backed by a private investor. "We want projects that serve the people," he said.

Most hotels in Baghdad are run- down and missing a few stars. Their biggest business in recent years has come from foreigners, primarily journalists and contractors who pay inflated prices for dismal rooms.

Feely said three other big projects are close to being finalized, though he declines to discuss them. "We're only doing investments in the areas," he says.